The three aspiring engineers from Santa Fe High School had a crisis Saturday morning and just 45 minutes to resolve it — or be disqualified.

They had proudly carried over their sleek, silver wind turbine to the judging table during the MESA (Math, Engineering, Science, Achievement) Regional Science Fair at their high school's gymnasium. Then the judges gave them the bad news. The team needed to reconfigure the turbine's mechanism for lifting a weight off the floor. It was in the wrong location.

Cyrus Ahmadi-Moghadam, 18, Zackariah Mondragon, 15, and Kyle Ortiz, 17, hoisted their aluminum and iron contraption and rushed it back to the high school shop for a little re-engineering.

The high schoolers were among dozens of students from 11 middle and high schools around the region competing in several categories at the event.

While some teams built wind turbines, others designed Lego robotic vehicles that had to push miniature cars out of a square area. Still other teams constructed elaborate roller coasters out of popsicle sticks that sent a marble swooshing precisely down into a cup. Teams also participated in on-site projects meant to test their problem-solving skills.

Fun as it all looked, the projects had other purposes: to give students some hands-on experience putting scientific principles to work and inspire them to pursue careers in math, science or engineering.

Back at the wind energy competition, the intrepid trio rigged a pulley and a rope in the right spot off the rear of the wind turbine and made it back to the judging table with only a few minutes to spare.

Then they watched anxiously. They hadn't tested the weight-lifting contraption in its new spot. In the old spot, it lifted 750 grams, about the weight of a hammer, with no problem. They didn't know if it would work now.

Ahmadi-Moghadam and Ortiz have a lot riding on this project. Last year, they took first in regionals and fifth at the state competition with a similar but rougher design of the turbine that looks something like a chile roaster. This year they are seniors, both interested in mechanical engineering.

Their mentor and MESA adviser, Albert Trujillo, said the team used a computer-aided design program and a robotic arm to precisely cut the aluminum piping used for the wind turbine blades and rotor. Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Sandia are the only three high schools with the robotic arm system, said Trujillo. "It is exciting to see if this will work," he said with a big grin as he waited to watch the reconfigured wind turbine.

Ahmadi-Moghadam said his team designed the cylindrical wind turbine to lie horizontally instead of vertically, figuring the larger surface area would catch more wind. He thinks that with some tinkering, the basic design could be adapted to put on rooftops and generate "home-grown" energy.

The team connected a 350-gram weight made of bolts to the end of a string. A judge turned on a household fan that blew across the table into the wind turbine. Slowly, the sleek silver cylinder began to turn.

Len Duda, a volunteer judge from Sandia Laboratory, held a yard stick with blue tape at the prescribed height. The wind turbine had to lift the weight 75 centimeters in less then 60 seconds. It looked like the team had stopped breathing.

But their wind turbine accomplished the task in 27 seconds.

Relieved, Ahmadi-Moghadam hooked 750 grams on the end of the string. The weight rose smoothly past the mark in 42 seconds.

Teams are judged on a written summary of their projects, how well their designs work and on their answers to questions from judges. The approximately 40 teams that participated won't know until Friday which ones won. The top three finishers in each category will represent the North Central Region at the state MESA competition in April.

Santa Fe High School senior Diego Trujillo, Albert Trujillo's son, is hoping for his fifth first-place regional win in the robotics competition. "Robotics are what I do," he said.

He's already been interviewed by MIT, and he has plans for designing some practical robots. "What we have is a lack of robots that help at home," Trujillo said. "What I really want is a robot that mows the lawn. We have a lot of grass at our house, and I have to mow."

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.